Overview
WD Discovery is an app available for installation when you purchase a Western Digital My Passport external device. It is commonly used for password protection.
Versions of WD Discovery prior to 5.0.589 for Macs contain a misconfiguration that make it vulnerable to exploits. To protect your computer, you must proceed with one of the following options:
- Option 1: If you are not using the external device anymore, you can completely uninstall WD Discovery.
- Option 2: If you are still using the external device and want to keep using WD Discovery, update your version when prompted.
- Option 3: If you are still using the external device, switch to WD Security for password protection instead.
External devices should always be password-protected: if you uninstall WD Discovery but are still using the external device it came with, you must install WD Security to replace it.
Uninstalling WD Discovery
If you no longer have the external device for which you needed WD Discovery, you can uninstall WD Discovery:
Quick guide
- Open Finder.
- Go to Applications > WD Discovery > More WD Apps > Uninstallers, and double-click Uninstall WD Discovery.
- Click Uninstall.
- Type your Mac login credentials, which may differ from your USC NetID and passphrase, and click OK.
- WD Discovery uninstalls.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Open Finder.
- Go to Applications > WD Discovery > More WD Apps > Uninstallers, and double-click Uninstall WD Discovery.
- Click Uninstall.
- Type your Mac login credentials, which may differ from your USC NetID and passphrase, and click OK.
- WD Discovery uninstalls.
Updating WD Discovery
If you are currently using WD Discovery, it should automatically attempt to update when the app is open. To launch WD Discovery, open Finder and go to Applications > WD Discovery > WD Discovery.
Switching to WD Security
If you are currently using WD Discovery and would like to switch to WD Security:
- Follow the above section, Uninstalling WD Discovery.
- Restart your computer.
- Follow our guide, Setting up WD Security on a Mac.
WD Security will still retain information about any password you may have set up in WD Discovery prior to making the switch.